THE FLESH-EATERS 41 



parts of Africa from north to south, wherever the 

 terrain is suitable to its habits. It inhabits usually 

 dry, open plateau country, or hill districts, and is not 

 a frequenter of forest or densely bushed regions. In 

 West Africa, for example, north of the Portuguese 

 province of Angola, it seems to be practically un- 

 known. It is a familiar animal in Somaliland, East 

 Africa, and nearly all South Africa. Although bear- 

 ing certain points of resemblance to the true leopard, 

 and having the same dentition, the cheetah is, in 

 fact, a widely different kind of animal. Naturalists 

 rank it in a genus of its own, Cynaelurus, and have 

 bestowed upon it the specific title, Cynaelurus jubatus. 

 As mentioned in the account of the leopard, the 

 Boers call the cheetah luipaard, sometimes, but much 

 more rarely, the vlakte-tijger leopard of the plains. 

 The Amakosa Kaffirs know it as schlozi, the Zulus 

 as Ngulule, the Bechuanas as Lenau, the Swazis as 

 Ihlose, and the Transvaal Basutos as Sigakaka. 



Although one of the felidae, the cheetah has blunt 

 claws, which are scarcely retractile at all, and are not, 

 like the leopard's, sheathed when unemployed. It is 

 a much more slender beast than the leopard, and 

 stands considerably higher on the leg. The fur, 

 ochreous yellow in colour, is coarser than the leopard's, 

 short, and covered with small, circular, black mark- 

 ings. Below, the body colour fades to white and the 

 fur becomes more woolly. Upon the neck and 

 shoulders the coat is thick, woolly, and upstanding, 

 giving the animal the maned appearance from 

 which it takes its scientific appellation, jubatus. In 



